National Goal Areas for Transportation Performance Management

A key feature of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act is the establishment of a performance and outcome-based program, originally introduced through the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21) Act. The objective of a performance-based program is for states and MPOs to invest resources in projects that collectively will make progress toward the achievement of national goals.

Nationally, there are seven goal areas for performance measures. They are:

1.  Safety: To achieve reduction in fatalities and serious injuries on all public roads. 

2.  Infrastructure Condition: To maintain highway infrastructure assets in state of good repair. 

3.  Congestion Reduction: To achieve reduction in congestion on the National Highway System. 

4.  System Reliability: To improve the efficiency of the surface transportation system.

5.  Freight Movement and Economic Vitality: To improve freight networks, strengthen the ability of rural communities to access national and   international trade markets, and support regional economic development.

6.  Environmental Sustainability: To enhance the performance of the transportation system while protecting and enhancing the environment. 

7.  Reduced Project Delivery Delays: To reduce project costs, promote jobs and the economy, and expedite the movement of people and goods by accelerating project completion through eliminating delays in the project development and delivery process, including reducing regulatory burdens and improving agencies’ work practices.

MPO’s, and State and Local agencies will invest resources in projects to achieve individual targets that will collectively make progress towards these national goals. The FHWA enacts performance measures and targets that guide the selection of transportation projects and programs based on the previous goals. As these rules become effective, and MDOT issues their targets for the performance measures indicated in the rule, MATS staff will update this page with more information on each. 

Performance Measures and Targets Timeline

The table below shows the Performance Rules, and the associated specific performance measures, that will need to be dealt with in the 2018 to 2019 time frame.  The process by which this works can be convoluted, but Safety Performance Measures is a good example to illustrate what MATS has been, and will be, doing with regard to them.  After the Final Rule was promulgated by the Federal government, the Michigan Department of Transportation looked at the measures required to be used and developed targets that the State would look to meet or exceed.  They did this by looking at past data on fatalities and injuries, other factors that influenced how much people drive and where they drive to, and so forth.  Once they were satisfied they had identified trends in the data, and trends in the factors, they were able to develop and adopt targets for the future.  

These targets were then passed along to the MPOs in the state, for their review and possible adoption.  MPOs could adopt the MDOT targets, in whole or in part, or develop their own based on local conditions, again either in whole or in part.  In the case of MATS, the Policy Committee adopted the MDOT targets for this first annual cycle of review, and will look at the situation again later in 2018 for the 2019 adoption deadline.

Infographic courtesy of Aaron Dawson, FHWA